talkmagic.co.uk

Now I've had a butchers on the search but couldn't find a previous thread so here goes:

I know that one mans faecal matter is another mans gold so this isn't meant as a list of magic to avoid as such.

What was the worst purchase you have ever made when it comes to magic?

Mine was when I first really started to get into magic and bought a few Sankey items and up until then had been really happy with it all. The gemini pouch changed all this. Tried it out several times, caught out several times. It now resides at the back of the drawer of disappointment

Suspended Dimention by Dan Sylvester hands down.

Two minutes into the DVD i realised i could never use ANY of the routines.

It was useless to me. It advertises a jacketless topit system, which is very misleading, as you have to wear a certain item of clothing that is not worn much these days.

Shops charge £47.00 for this, luckily i got it second hand from ebay.

Mine has got to be Calling Card. To me it just didn't look realistic at all, Maybe it was my phone. It is now somewhere in my house but I haven't a clue where. Also to get the gimmick lined up with the photo was a real challange.

My worst purchases are the ones that never arrived..

As mentioned in the 'How much have you spent on magic' thread, I bought a few really expensive things back in the day.

One of them was a 'suspension'—i.e. put two chairs 4 foot apart, chuck a board on top, and your lovely assistant lies on top. You then remove the two chairs, and voila, your lovely assistant is floating.

Cost me about £3000 as I recal, and was never even used. Sold it for about £500 on eBay a year later.

This was my worst purchase, as I do believe it was the single most expensive item, which in knock-on terms cost me the most money.

OUCH!
Next time you have such a deal on the go, remember to give me a shout!

Most of mine have been relatively cheap packet tricks which I've bought purely because I wanted to know the workings. Why I persist in buying card tricks when I don't do card tricks defies me!

My worst purchase was the M5 system. Not that there's anything wrong with it but I was only finding my feet in magic at the time and bought it out of curiosity.

I doesn't suit my style. The only thing I use it for now is a kinda rising card with a shimmed card but generally I used it to collect dust.

But anyways Seige that is a big loss and to think that you have your own online business.

I am talking yonks ago: think eager magician thinking about a career in magic... add to this equation a high-paid job in relation to age, and a credit card with a VERY generous limit.

All the ingredients of a STUPID purchase.

Killer red caps. The most ridiculous trick I've ever seen. And to be controversial, I was extremely disapointed with room 101 by luke jermay.

AndyRegs wrote: And to be controversial, I was extremely disapointed with room 101 by luke jermay.

That's not controversy, that's honesty.

I felt much the same about it to be honest.

I wasn't overly impressed with room 101 either

Honesty is the best policy! If there was more of this about then we wouldn't make some of the wasted purchases we sometimes do!

A lot of the cheapo effects that sound too good to be true for the price, usually are. I find the most disappointing things are the ones you hold out the most hope for.

They sound great and you can't wait for it to arrive so you can learn, practice and add it to your act. Then you get that sinking feeling that we've all had when it arrives, you open the packaging, eagerly awaiting another marvel to astound everyone with and then your heart sinks and you think "Is THIS it?" as you realise it's too embarassing for you to peform in public.

For me, the worst purchase I have ever made (which falls into the above category) is Hypnotrick. I wrote about this at length in my review and months after practising it, reading the pamphlet and trying it out on a few people, my opinion has not changed. It's awful.
I have not used Merchant of Magic since. The naff product and attitude since lost them a customer.

Collectively we've probably bought more turkeys than Bernard Matthews .

My worst purchase was ' The Incredible Shrinking Finger '

I tried to be nice.. but what a loads of b******s !! I couldnt even bring myself to sell it, I just threw it away.

I so recall over-hearing the late and great Albert Goshman explaining to a lad making a complaint of this sort that Magic is an industry rife with hustlers and charlatans that don't believe that's what they are; they thrive on hype and though 90% of what they offer comes complete with a foul oder to it, they will convince you that it is the Holy Grail.

If you can find a copy of Harry Anderson's parody publication WEENIE Magazine you will see a detailed explanation as to what all those buzz words really mean like "Timeless Classic" etc.

Just know that it is all a "starter kit" and some of us can take that piece of crapola and transform it into a thing from which miracles and legend are made

Rick Maue and I have a tendency to take a piece we down-right hate and believe to be exceptionally useless and work with it until we can come up with at least a half-dozen ways of proving our selves' wrong ... we create value and application for the "thing". One of my biggest pet peeves being the Center Tear but I've found situations that allow me to justify the illogical and thus, give myself permission for using this otherwise worthless P.O.S. idea that magician's seem to love.